Don’t be evil

Well, Google’s done it. www.google.cn is filtering out sites from its search results to comply with an as yet unspecified local law. Google has done this in the past with google.fr & google.de, however, they have been fairly transparent about it. In these cases Google has cited specific laws and court orders with which they must comply. What specific law or court order is being complied with in China? Will Google send report it to Chilling Effects? Will Google make public the websites that have been de-listed? Did Google select the sites or were they given a list of what to block? I am hoping that Google will be responsible and transparent about this.

Some quick observations:

When you search for a term and results are removed this message appears at the bottom of the page: